Part 2
Chapter 6

A FEW evenings afterwards, cousin Clara happened
to inquire of Grandfather whether the old chair
had never been present at a ball. At the same
time little Alice brought forward a doll, with
whom she had been holding a long conversation.

"See, Grandfather?" cried she.
"Did such a pretty lady as this ever sit in
your great chair?"

These questions led
Grandfather to talk about the fashions and manners
which now began to be introduced from England
into the provinces. The simplicity of the good
old Puritan times was fast disappearing. This
was partly owing to the increasing number and
wealth of the inhabitants, and to the additions
which they continually received by the arrival and
settlement of people from beyond the sea.

Another
cause of a pompous and artificial mode of life,
among those who could afford it, was, that the
example was set by the royal governors. Under the
old charter, the governors were the
representatives of the people, and therefore their
way of living had probably been marked by a
popular simplicity. But now, as they represented
the person of the king, they thought it necessary
to preserve the dignity of their station by the
practice of high and gorgeous ceremonials. And,
besides, the profitable offices under the
government were filled by men who had lived in
London, and had there contracted fashionable and
luxurious habits of living which they would not now
lay aside. The wealthy people of the
province imitated them; and thus began a general
change in social life.

"So, my dear
Clara," said Grandfather, "after our
chair had entered the Province House, it must
often have been present at balls and festivals;
though I cannot give you a description of any
particular one. But I doubt not that they were
very magnificent; and slaves in gorgeous liveries
waited on the guests, and offered them wine in
goblets of massive silver."

"Were there
slaves in those days!" exclaimed Clara.

"Yes, black slaves and white," replied
Grandfather. "Our ancestors not only brought
negroes from Africa, but Indians from South
America, and white people from Ireland. These
last were sold, not for life, hut for a certain
number of years, in order to pay the expenses
of their voyage across the Atlantic. Nothing was
more common than to see a lot of likely Irish
girls advertised for sale in the newspapers. As
for the little negro babies, they were offered to
be given away like young kittens."

"Perhaps Alice would have liked one to play
with, instead of her doll," said Charley,
laughing.

But little Alice clasped the waxen doll
closer to her bosom.

"Now, as for this pretty
doll, my little Alice," said Grandfather,
"I wish you could have seen what splendid
dresses the ladies wore in those times. They had
silks, and satins, and damasks, and brocades, and
high head-dresses, and all sorts of fine things.
And they used to wear hooped petticoats of such
enormous size that it was quite a journey to walk
round them."

"And how did the gentlemen
dress?" asked Charley.

"With full as
much magnificence as the ladies," answered
Grandfather. "For their holiday suits they
had coats of figured velvet, crimson, green, blue,
and all other gay colors, embroidered with gold or
silver lace. Their waistcoats, which were five
times as large as modern ones, were very splendid.
Sometimes the whole waistcoat, which came down
almost to the knees, was made of gold
brocade."

"Why, the wearer must have shone
like a golden image!" said Clara.

"And
then," continued Grandfather, "they wore
various sorts of periwigs, such as the tie, the
Spencer, the brigadier, the major, the Albemarle,
the Ramillies, the feather-top, and the full
bottom. Their three-cornered hats were laced
with gold or silver. They had shining buckles at
the knees of their small-clothes, and buckles
likewise in their shoes. They wore swords with
beautiful hilts, either of silver, or sometimes of
polished steel, inlaid with gold."

"And a
periwig," added little Alice, soberly, not
knowing what was the article of dress which she
recommended to our friend Charley.

Grandfather
smiled at the idea of Charley's sturdy little
figure in such a grotesque caparison. He then
went on with the history of the chair, and told
the children that, in 1730, King George II.
appointed Jonathan Belcher to be governor of
Massachusetts in place of the deceased
Governor Burnet. Mr. Belcher was a native of the
province, but had spent much of his life in
Europe.

The new governor found Grandfather's
chair in the Province House. He was struck with
its noble and stately aspect, but was of opinion
that age and hard services had made it scarcely so
fit for courtly company as when it stood in the
Earl of Lincoln's hall. Wherefore, as Governor
Belcher was fond of splendor, he employed a
skilful artist to beautify the chair. This was
done by polishing and varnishing it, and by
gilding the carved work of the elbows, and
likewise the oaken flowers of the back. The
lion's head now shone like a veritable lump of
gold. Finally Governor Belcher gave the chair a
cushion of blue damask, with a rich golden fringe.

"Our good old chair being thus
glorified," proceeded Grandfather, "it
glittered with a great deal more splendor than it
had exhibited just a century before, when the Lady
Arbella brought it over from England. Most people
mistook it for a chair of the latest London
fashion. And this may serve for an example, that
there is almost always an old and time-worn
substance under all the glittering show of new
invention."

"Grandfather, I cannot see
any of the gilding," remarked Charley, who
had been examining the chair very minutely.

"You will not wonder that it has been ruhbed
off," replied Grandfather, "when you
hear all the adventures that have since befallen
the chair. Gilded it was; and the handsomest room
in the Province House was adorned by it."

There was not much to interest the children in
what happened during the years that Governor
Belcher remained in the chair. At first, like
Colonel Shute and Governor Burnet, he was engaged
in disputing with the Legislature ahout his
salary. But, as he found it impossible to get a
fixed sum, he finally obtained the king's leave to
accept whatever the Legislature chose to give him.
And thus the people triumphed, after this long
contest for the privilege of expending their own
money as they saw fit.

The remainder of Governor
Belcher's term of office was principally taken up
in endeavoring to settle the currency. Honest
John Hull's pine-tree shillings had long ago been
worn out, or lost, or melted down again; and their
place was supplied by bills of paper or parchment,
which were nominally valued at three pence and
upwards. The value of these bills kept
continually sinking, because the real hard money
could not be obtained for them. They were a great
deal worse than the old Indian currency of
clam-shells. These disorders of the circulating
medium were a source of endless plague and
perplexity to the rulers and legislators, not only
in Governor Belcher's days, hut for many years
before and afterwards.

Finally the people
suspected that Governor Belcher was secretly
endeavoring to establish the Episcopal mode of
worship in the provinces. There was enough of the
old Puritan spirit remaining to cause most of the
true sons of New England to look with horror upon
such an attempt. Great exertions were made to
induce the king to remove the governor.
Accordingly, in 1740, he was compelled to resign
his office, and Grandfather's chair into the
bargain, to Mr. Shirley.